Netflix reality shows, Foundation, Summer I Turned Pretty, and other new TV

Fourth of July might be over, but the fireworks are still going. This week’s new TV offerings are full of dramatic showdowns — from murders (The Afterparty) to dinner parties (The Real Housewives of New York City) to reality show contestants tasked with simply not hooking up with each other (Too Hot to Handle).

Of course, it’s not all melodrama. Netflix is looking back at 2022’s NFL season with Quarterback, a new docuseries following a year in the life of three starting QBs (including superstar Patrick Mahomes). And while the vampires of What We Do in the Shadows might have a flair for the dramatic, they also bring a lot of really solid comedy to balance it out.

Also worth noting: the return of Foundation, the Isaac Asimov adaptation on Apple TV Plus starring Lee Pace, Jared Harris, and more. The series returns with a new timeline and new challenges for those following the gospel of psychohistory, and feels a little more assured than its first season did.

Here are all the significant TV premieres (and finales) this week.

New shows on Netflix

Quarterback

Image: Netflix

Genre: Sports documentary (football edition)
Release date: July 12, with all episodes
Cast: Patrick Mahomes, Kirk Cousins, Marcus Mariota

In the same vein as Netflix’s other sports documentaries, Quarterback follows a select crew of (get this) quarterbacks through last year’s NFL season. We get to peek behind closed doors at their training and family life, and get a sense of how their season came together.

Too Hot to Handle season 5

Genre: Sexed-up reality competition nonsense
Release date: July 14, with 4 episodes
Cast: A cast of horny, hot reality singles

You know the drill: There are 10 hot singles lured to a luxurious locale (in this case, a yacht in the Caribbean) with the promise of competing in a new dating show, when it’s revealed that the only way they can get the $200,000 cash prize is to avoid all physical intimacy. How will they manage??

New shows on Hulu

What We Do in the Shadows season 5

Photo: Russ Martin/FX

Genre: Irreverent vampire comedy
Release date: July 13 (FX), July 14 (streaming on Hulu)
Showrunner: Paul Simms
Cast: Kayvan Novak, Matt Berry, Natasia Demetriou, Mark Proksch, Harvey Guillén, and Kristen Schaal

What We Do in the Shadows is back, and thank god — it’s been far too long since someone yelled “Bat!” on our television screens. In the new season, Nadja (Natasia Demetriou) is reconnecting with family from the old country, Lazslo (Matt Berry) and Nandor (Kayvan Novak) fight for Guillermo’s (Harvey Guillén) time, and Colin (Mark Proksch) does what so many energy vampires before him have done (run for office).

New shows on Max

Miracle Workers: End Times

Genre: Anthology comedy (end times)
Release date: July 10
Showrunner/creator: Simon Rich
Cast: Daniel Radcliffe, Geraldine Viswanathan, Steve Buscemi, Karan Soni, Jon Bass

The long-delayed fourth (and Mad Max-inflected) season of Miracle Workers finally gets its release this week. In this wasteland, there’s only one challenge truly frightening for a pair of ruthless warriors: settling down in the suburbs.

Full Circle

Genre: Thriller
Release date: July 13
Showrunner/creator: Steven Soderbergh, Ed Solomon
Cast: Zazie Beetz, Claire Danes, Jim Gaffigan, Jharrel Jerome, Timothy Olyphant, CCH Pounder, and more

What hits better in the middle of summer than a prestige limited thriller series? This one — from director Steven Soderbergh and writer Ed Solomon — follows an investigation of a botched kidnapping that connects multiple characters with long-held secrets (which, in classic crisscrossing mystery fashion, are likely to come out in a big way).

New shows on Prime Video

The Summer I Turned Pretty season 2

Genre: Teen soap
Release date: July 14, with three episodes
Showrunner/creator: Jenny Han
Cast: Lola Tung, Christopher Briney, Gavin Casalegno, Sean Kaufman, Jackie Chung, Alfredo Narciso, and Minnie Mills
The love triangle with Belly and two brothers (based on the book of the same name by Jenny Han) is here to scratch the itch for romance fans. Season 2 is based on the next book in the series, It’s Not Summer Without You, in which Belly and Conrad’s new relationship strains under Susannah’s passing, with both of them dealing with her tragic loss. When Conrad goes missing, Belly reunites with Jeremiah to track him down — only for Belly’s feelings for Jeremiah to grow stronger.

New shows on Peacock

The Real Housewives of New York City season 14

Genre: Angry entitled housewives reality nonsense
Release date: July 16 (Bravo), July 17 (streaming on Peacock)
Cast: Sai De Silva, Ubah Hassan, Erin Dana Lichy, Jenna Lyons, Jessel Taank, and Brynn Whitfield

RHONY is a show that you probably already know if you’re in or out on — but there’s, of course, still time to get on board if you want to. RHONY season 14 promises a new cast and the same old reality show drama. Here’s to several dramatic bougie and boozy parties!

New shows on Apple TV Plus

The Afterparty

Image: Apple

Genre: Mystery, with genre-specific parodies
Release date: July 12, with 1 episode
Showrunner/creator: Phil Lord, Christopher Miller
Cast: Tiffany Haddish, Sam Richardson, Zoë Chao, Zach Woods, Ken Jeong, John Cho, and more

What a beautiful wedding — at least, until the groom turns up dead the next day. In the latest season of The Afterparty, everyone (mostly) is a suspect, everyone’s got a story, and everyone’s got a different genre they filter their life through. Season 2 of the murder mystery brings back Aniq (Sam Richardson) and Danner (Tiffany Haddish) to put the screws to people and see if they can’t turn up the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth somewhere between everyone’s version of events.

Foundation

Genre: Sci-fi epic
Release date: July 14, with 1 episode
Showrunner/creator: David S. Goyer, Jane Espenson
Cast: Lee Pace, Jared Harris, Lou Llobell, Terrence Mann, and more

Foundation season 2 picks up right where season 1 left off: decades past the storylines of season 1, with the Foundation more far-flung and more at risk than it’s ever been. Meanwhile, a new Empire dawns and tries to reset their supremacy by (gasp) bringing in an empress and having kids the old-fashioned way (not cloning).

New shows on Hulu

How I Met Your Father season 2 finale

Photo: Patrick Wymore/Hulu

Genre: Rom-com sitcom
Release date: July 11
Showrunner/creator: Isaac Aptaker, Elizabeth Berger
Cast: Hilary Duff, Christopher Lowell, Francia Raisa, Suraj Sharma, Tom Ainsley, Tien Tran, and Kim Cattrall

The How I Met Your Mother spinoff continues apace, having not yet met the titular father (or, at least, not revealed him yet). In the season 2 finale of the show, the whole gang heads to Pemberton’s to wait out a hurricane. Surely everything will be fine and the trapped, close quarters will not incite any incidents.